Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen announced that the El Salvador government has rejected his request to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration last month. Senator Chris Van Hollen travelled to El Salvador, hoping to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident being held at the Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT), where he is being held along with other high-risk inmates. 

The senator's visit occurred just a few days after U.S. President Donald Trump and El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele declined to return Ábrego García to the United States, despite a recent Supreme Court ruling instructing the government to "facilitate" his return. During a press conference in El Salvador, Senator Van Hollen shared that he met with Vice President Félix Ulloa, who informed him that he wasn’t allowed to meet or speak with Ábrego García over the phone.

“I asked the vice-president if I could meet with Abrego Garcia. And he said, Well, you need to make earlier provisions to go visit Cecot,” Van Hollen conveyed. “I said, I’m not interested at this moment in taking a tour of Cecot, I just want to meet with Mr Ábrego García. He said he was not able to make that happen.”

Van Hollen said he suggested coming back the following week to meet Ábrego García, but Vice President Ulloa said he couldn’t promise a meeting would be possible. Ulloa also mentioned he couldn’t help set up a phone call between Ábrego García and his family. When Van Hollen asked if he could make the call himself, Ulloa responded that such a request would need to come through the U.S. embassy.

Senator Van Hollen criticised the Trump administration, saying, “We’re dealing with an unfair situation. The Trump administration is lying about Ábrego García,” and explained that Ábrego García, one of his constituents, had been wrongly identified as part of the MS-13 gang. The administration later admitted that his deportation was due to an “administrative error,” even though a judge had bestowed him protected status in 2019. In response, the White House criticised Van Hollen’s visit to El Salvador, issuing a statement on Wednesday that pointed to the arrests of suspected undocumented criminals. The statement questioned, “Where was his concern for Maryland residents put at risk by other illegal immigrants who have been free until now?”

Appearing on Fox News, Trump’s border Tsar Tom Homan also criticised Van Hollen, saying, “Instead of focusing on crime victims in his state, he’s running to El Salvador to defend an MS-13 terrorist. It’s disgraceful.”